What to Expect at Nationals

[wolfj]

I know that winning an award gets you into the nationals, but which awards do it? Is it all awards, or just winners, Rookie All Star, and Chairman's Award? And, does it get you in for just that season, or just one season, whenever you want? (I don't think it makes sense for it to be used any season, but someone told me that.) That's a lot of questions, but whatever.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by wolfj

I know that winning an award gets you into the nationals, but which awards do it? Is it all awards, or just winners, Rookie All Star, and Chairman's Award? And, does it get you in for just that season, or just one season, whenever you want? (I don't think it makes sense for it to be used any season, but someone told me that.) That's a lot of questions, but whatever.

Chairmans
Engineering Inspiration
Rookie All Star
Regional Winners

So, 3-6 Teams per regional.

Originally Posted by Bongle

I've lost the original and forget how much this was sped up (probably about 10x), but here is a video of how long the walk is to the fields along the shorter red-carpet route:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSjKVDgnWwY

Awesome!!! You pass right by our robot and I at the end.

Also, my team timed it to be about 6-8 minutes from pits to the queue line (for Newton). I bet you can add another minute for whatever division is the opposite corner of the entrance.

[Jeff Pahl]

Make sure you have a good cart for your robot. Not only is the walk long, it's not flat. You have to go up a ramp in the middle. Trying to use a furniture dolly will be a very frustrating experience. Also, make sure there is room on the cart for a spare battery and a basic set of tools, as there will be times you will not want (or have time) to go back to the pits between matches, especially if you make it to the elimination rounds. One of the best things I saw last year was a team that had a place in their cart for a couple of lawn chairs. You get tired of sitting on the floor of the dome after a while.

Each field had a table where you could connect a video recoder to the feed that was going to the big screen, so you may want to bring along a portable recorder to record your matches.

The weather here in Atlanta that time of year is very unpredictable, it may be hot or cold or both. However, you can pretty much count on at least one good thunderstorm. The walk from the pits to the dome for everyone except the drive team is outdoors.

One recommendation I have, especially for rookie teams, is to get at least one registration to the FIRST Conference. It's Thursday and Friday, and is a bunch of presentations by some of the best people in FIRST. You can send different people to different sessions, it's an unbelievable opportunity to learn from the best. Also, make sure to take some time to just walk around the pits of the other divisions and get to see all the robots.

Good Luck to all who will be coming here to Atlanta! Wish we had qualified, looks like I will be volunteering somewhere.